Typical chest-puffing, tartan-clad, narrow-mindedness from Fat Neck. He is such an utter tadger.
I am for staying In, for more or less the same reasons I was a No during the Scottish Referendum - an Exit would be a retreat into the kind of parochialism that I inherently detest.
You cannot unwind the connected world, and for all it sins (and there are many), I would rather be part of the EU, than think the UK could go it alone, and for things to improve by default. Indeed, I think we would be exponentially worse off. Financial Services apart, we simply do not sell enough to the rest of the world, and any trade-tariffs the EU may choose to apply, would potentially compromise that which we do sell. Economically, it's as big a step into the unknown as Scottish Independence was.
Economic arguments aside, I have absolutely zero faith in our political class in the UK, and the argument about sovereignty doesn't wash with me - mainly because I would be horrified to think that all the decision-making would be placed in the hands of the litany of no-marks identified in Archie's post. I actually view the EU as a welcome hand-brake on some of the more unpleasant aspects of UK political leanings. And I reckon fundamental change is in the offing anyway, that will deliver some of changes that the UK wants. Those changes will be driven not by the UK, but by other EU states, who are now waking-up to the fact that the current arrangement is too fast-and-loose. There is a dawning realisation amongst even the most pro-EU states, that change has to happen, if the entire edifice isn't to come crashing down.
We should bide our time and stay in. Change will come regardless, and better that we have a chance to influence it positively, than absorb all the risks that a Brexit will bring to bear.
